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Taurahe
Taurahe refers to the native languages spoken by the Tauren from the Warcraft universe. There are numerous dialects of Taurahe, as most tribes retain their own version of the language. The most common dialect by far is Bloodhoof Taurahe, the native tongue of High Chieftain Baine. Bloodhoof Taurahe has supplanted ceremonial Taurahe in areas of trade and tribal politics. There are a number of culturally Tauren words that have been adopted into other languages from Taurahe, such as shaman, leather, mana, feral, lava, and totem. Phonology Consonants There are 17 consonants. : : Vowels There are four vowels and two diphthongs. : The two diphthongs are /ya/ and /wa/. They function no differently than the pure vowels. Syllable Structure While most syllables are simply of the form CV, the maximum syllable structure is sCLVC. There are five types of onset. #No onset. #Single consonant. Any of the 17 consonants can appear as the onset. #Non-coronal consonant + liquid. There are 14 such onsets: any of /m p f v k x g/ + /l/ or /r/. #/s/ + nasal or voiceless continuant. There are 6 possible onsets: /s/ + /m n f θ ʃ x/ #/s/ + non-coronal nasal or voiceless continuant + liquid. There are 6 possible onsets: /sml/, /smr/, /sfl/, /sfr/, /sxl/, and /sxr/. The coda can be any consonant except /p t tʃ k/. Stress and Rhythm Stress is trochaic and generally regular. Most words have primary stress on the penultimate syllable, with secondary stress on the first syllable for words longer than 4 syllables. Some words have irregular stress which may or may not be orthographically indicated. Like English, Taurahe is metrically a stress-timed language. When speaking, stressed syllables typically occur at regular intervals. Orthography Taurahe does not have a standard orthography. There is no native script, and the spoken language has variously been transcribed by speakers of Darnassian, Orcish, and Common, so there are several different ways to write out the language. There are a few common patterns in spelling that you will see on this page and in other texts. The sound /o/ can be written either as ⟨o⟩ or ⟨u⟩. On this page it's always written as ⟨o⟩, except when it follows ⟨a⟩, as in 'taurajo' and 'taurahe'. The sound /θ/ can be written as the symbol ⟨θ⟩ or the digraph ⟨th⟩. On this page it's always written as ⟨θ⟩. The sound /tʃ/ can be written several different ways, but this page uses ⟨ch⟩. While /x/ is almost always written as ⟨h⟩, on this page it is written as ⟨x⟩ if it follows /s/, to distinguish /sx/ from /ʃ/. Words with irregular stress are marked with an acute accent over the stressed vowel. Grammar Nouns and Adjectives Nouns and adjectives are typically 2 to 4 syllables *θalo woman *peje child *rochi animal *lavo wolf *maro short *korvi cougar *ormi bird *kelke flower *θavi briarthorn *aldo feather *talne stick *kala small egg *mago fruit *tagli clear rock or gem *rofa red *goma fat *niko one *sheni bone *hakaji arrow *kolovi earthenware object *akalake man *taurajo campsite *nosθoki head *shatohaji many Plural Both adjectives and nouns are marked for plural. Words that end in final /-i/ or /-e/ change the final stem to /-ahe/. Some words that end in /-o/ change the final stem to /-aho/. *peje > pejahe child > children *iche > ichahe white *koide > koidahe shield > shields *tauri > taurahe story > stories *korvi > korvahe cougar > cougars *sheni > shenahe bone > bones *lapo > lapaho stone > stones Some words that end in /-a/ and /-o/ change the final stem to /-ina/ and /-ino/, respectively. *kala > kalina egg > eggs *aldo > aldino feather > feathers *maro > marino short *θalo > θalino woman > women Words that end in a consonant can take the suffix /-i/, /-a/, or /-ai/. Some words that end in /-a/ can change the final stem to /-ai/. *tokan > tokanai object > objects *soham > sohami two *kakam > kakama strider > striders *totem > totemi totem > totems *rofa > rofai red Some words take on a different meaning when pluralized. *kahi > kahahe rain > weather Attributive adjectives, those that directly modify a noun, agree in number. maro talne kaθθa ma a θalo short stick collect PRS NOM woman The woman gathers a short stick. marino talnahe kaθθa ma an a θalo short.PL stick.PL collect PRS PL NOM woman The woman gathers short sticks. Strictly speaking, predicative adjectives, those that indirectly modify a noun, should also agree in number, but in casual speech they usually remain singular. kei ma sheni iche s COP PRS bone white COP The bone is white. kei ma an shenahe ichahe s COP PRS PL bone.PL white.PL COP The bones are white. kei ma an shenahe iche s COP PRS PL bone.PL white COP The bones are white. Numerals Tauren take an interesting approach to counting. For everyday counting, Tauren count based on groups rather than individuals. The important numbers in this system are 3, 12, and 36. So for example, to count 20 arrows, a hunter will mentally split them into groups of three and count 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 20 minus 1. When asked how many arrows he has, he would say he had one group of 12 and 3 groups of 3, minus one. Large numbers are counted more roughly, so a tailor who needed to count 100 feathers for a headdress. Would likely count 12, 24, 36, note the size of the pile, and then note 72 and 108, being satisfied that 108 is close enough to 100. For very precise counting, such as in mathematics, economics, and engineering, Tauren will count the discrete members within each group, so to count precisely to 15, for example, they would say 1, 2, 3, (4, 2, 3), (7, 2, 3), (10, 2, 3), 12+1, 12+2, 12+3. *niko one *soham two *kompa three *done 4, 5, 6 *koide 7, 8, 9 *shatohaji 10, 11, 12 Verbs The citation form of a verb is in the past tense. All past tense verbs end with /o/. *tékio walked *tifo saw *kaθθo gathered *diloko went *ogro ate, drank *sirno believed *servo knew Plural There is a plural particle /an/ that can follow the verb. If the object in the sentence is plural, then the verb will be plural. ogra ma an magino a sfiti eat PRS PL fruit.PL NOM hunter The hunter eats the fruits. kaθθo an go sohama lapaho collect.PST PL 1s two stone.PL I collected two stones. If the sentence doesn't have an object, but the subject is plural, then the verb will be plural. tekya ma pisxa walk PRS girl The girl walks. tekya ma an pisxai walk PRS PL girl.PL The girls walk. Tense Every verb has 2 forms, usually very closely related. For regular verbs, the past tense ends in /-o/ and the non-past form, used for present and future tenses, ends in /-a/. Past tense verbs, the /-o/ verb is used. ogro peji a galo drink.PST juice NOM boy The boy drank juice. tekio pisxa walk.PRS girl The girl walks. For present tense verbs, the particle /ma/ follows the /-a/ verb. ogra ma peji a galo drink PRS juice NOM boy The boy drinks juice. tekia ma pisxa walk PRS girl The girl walks. For future tense verbs, the particle /mo/ follows the /-a/ verb. ogra mo peji a galo drink FUT juice NOM boy The boy will drink juice. tekia mo pisxa walk FUT girl The girl will walk. Syntax Taurahe syntax is somewhat more complicated than English syntax. The most basic structure is VOS, but the order of constituents changes to indicate different focuses. When both object and subject and definite, then they follow the standard VOS order. ogra ma tavra a korsxi eat PRS bark NOM deer The deer eats the bark. However, if the subject is a pronoun, the subject precedes the object. (Surface VSO order.) ragno ana moja climb.PST 1p tree We climbed the tree. roo go ticho interpret.PRS 1s sign I interpret the sign. If either subject or object is indefinite, however, it will be promoted to in front of the verb. (Surface SVO or OVS order.) korsxi ogra ma tavra deer eat PRS bark A deer eats the bark. If the object is promoted, it requires the object particle /an/. moja an ragno go tree OBJ climb.PST 1s I climbed a tree. Taurahe doesn't allow both subject and object to be indefinite, nor does it allow intransitive verbs to have an indefinite argument. Expressions parallel "a dog barks" and "a man hears a dog" are ungrammatical. Lexicon Kinship To make sense of kinship terms in Taurahe, it is useful to understand how Tauren families are organized. Tauren society is strongly patrilineal and patrilocal, meaning that people trace their bloodline through their father and live in their father's household. After marriage, a woman leaves her family and joins her husband with his father. As a result, there is a lot of focus on the paternal bloodline and very little on the maternal bloodline. Tribe: smahi *paternal grandfather: gorata *paternal grandmother: agam **father: sahakanagi ***brother: chiro ***sister: kosidi ***self: go ****son/nephew: galo ****daughter/niece: pisxa *****grandson: pirogalo *****granddaughter:piropisxa **uncle: kanagi ***male cousin: chiro ***female cousin: kosidi **aunt/uncle's wife: sxraja *mother: agam These family members are not part of someone's household but they are blood-relatives through the mother. There in incest taboo against these people, and therefore unpaired men and women are strongly discouraged from interacting with these people. *maternal grandfather: jagiro *maternal grandmother: mathi **any male descendant: jagiro **any female descendant:mathi Colors There are only three color terms: 'iche' white, 'orkwa' black, and 'rofa' red. Category:Languages